SCCAS Welcomes Philanthropic Partner

The Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter (SCCAS) is the organization safeguarding and improving the lives of domestic animals in Santa Cruz County. With intake exceeding 5,000 animals a year, SCCAS has a bedrock of municipal funding for core services such as animal control, licensing, rabies vaccinations, housing for strays and surrenders, and intervention in animal abuse cases.

Most of the Shelter’s key preventive efforts, however, require private money — spay/neuter clinics, training classes, humane education, and community outreach — are dependent on donations from private individuals. To meet this need, supporters have launched the Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter Foundation.

“Our goal is simple,” said Foundation treasurer Brett Hennie, an executive with the Driscoll Company in Watsonville. “We want to ensure that the County Shelter will have a steady source of private funding to provide program stability and expansion of proven preventive outreach.”

As a 501(c)(3) entity, the Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter Foundation will access resources otherwise unavailable to SCCAS. Many businesses encourage employee philanthropy by offering matching gift programs, but require recipients to have 501(c)(3) status. The Foundation will reach out to businesses and other organizations while offering potential donors a range of giving options not currently available through the Shelter including gifts of securities, automobiles, real estate and more.

“We are thrilled to have an ally like the Foundation,” said SCCAS General Manager Melanie Sobel. “Unlike private rescue organizations, our staff focuses solely on services and we have no fundraising staff to focus on charitable giving. To have a Foundation raising needed funding for our pro-active programs is a real boon because these programs are essential to bringing about change.”

The Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter is an open admission shelter that welcomes EVERY animal in need. Our goal is to be a humane resource for the community by providing a safety net and second chance for local animals where owners can find and recover lost pets, adopt new animal companions, or sign up for PLANNED PetHood, our low cost spay/neuter program available for all resident pets

Our life-saving services and programs are described in detail on our website, www.scanimalshelter.org. The support of our community is crucial to sustaining and expanding these services.